NAACP, League of Women Voters and others sue to strike legislature’s redistricting amendment

Citing its “misleading” language, several groups filed a lawsuit Friday to strike Amendment 7, a ballot initiative proposed by the legislature and slated to come before voters in November.

In a joint press release, the Florida chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Domocracia Ahora and the League of Women Voters called the amendment “a brazen attempt by those in power to continue their absolute control of the redistricting process” and an “incumbent protection plan.”

The release charges that the legislature proposed Amendment 7 to undermine Amendments 5 and 6, the so-called Fair Districts amendments. The case claims that the language and title of Amendment 7 do not “advise voters of the chief purpose and true effect of the amendment” as required under Florida law.

“While Fair Districts Amendments 5 and 6 contain mandatory and enhanced protections for minority voters, Amendment 7 makes those protections optional,” said Adora Obi Nweze, president of the NAACP of Florida and a plaintiff in the case.

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